Last Weekend, Upstate NY and a day at the Cape!

Kate and I had a long weekend as we both took Friday and Monday off. Friday our summer adventure began by heading towards Schenectady, NY to visit with Kate's Mom, Donna and her Aunt Nancy. On the way we stopped for lunch in Worcester at Moe's Southwest Grill for a Burrito. Afterward we made an off-the-turnpike jaunt to Chesterfield Gorge. This location was nice, but honestly was a little over rated. It took us a while to get there and it isn't comparable to many similar sites in NH and Maine. The park was very small, and was more like a roadside attraction/ rest area then a full sized state park. Fees for visiting were collected on the honor system. A picnic area consisted of two tables and a lawn. Sites were the gorge, which was pretty but small and difficult to access, and the abutment of a pre-revolutionary war era bridge, which was over grown and difficult to find. I'm not sure I would have noticed it at all had it not been pointed out in a poorly constructed brochure that was available at the parking lot. There was a nice spot for the locales to swim downstream from the Gorge. One man was down in the churning water fly fishing. Our time spent at the Gorge was brief, however the country side was pretty, even if the ride was longer than I anticipated.

We were expected in Schenectady at 6:00, but due to some poor time budgeting by yours truly, we ended up being 15 minutes late.

Kate's Aunt & Mom had cooked us a nice bow-tie pasta dinner with bread and some salad. We even had some ice cream for desert. We talked around the dinner table for a couple of hours, before we wound down and prepared for bed.

Saturday, Kate and I were headed north to Glens Falls to meet up with Kate's high school friend Chris, and her husband Mark. We were scheduled to meet at the Olive Garden at 4:00 PM, and had some time to kill before hand. Kate found Monroe Lake outside of Albany. We intended to swim or kayak there, however when we arrived around 12:30 PM, the park was filled up, and we were turned away by a hot-headed police detail who could have been easily replaced by something, such as, A SIGN!!

We felt a bit defeated and tried to pull over on the gravel embankment to figure out where we wanted to go. The officer felt it necessary to ignore the confused traffic piling up at the gate (the task he was assigned to) so he could yell at the couple of us who were out of the way, trying to get our bearings. When I saw the officer yell at the guy in front of me, I decided I was next and sarcastically thanked the officer as I drove away. Kate and I pulled over on another street in the bicycle lane. We talked about some options, visiting a museum (one of President Grant's private homes) which unfortunately was on prison grounds. Other options were heading up to Lake George, or just going to Glens Falls and walking around. We agreed that we really didn't have the time to go to Lake George because of potential for heavy traffic, and we didn't want to go near the prison for obvious reasons.

Upon arriving in Glens Falls we stumbled upon Haviland's Cove by accident. We decided to walk along a trail by the Hudson, which eventually led to a nice beach with facilities (Haviland's Cove). The trail followed the river and went between the Hudson and a canal. Some teenagers were swimming in a fast moving portion of the canal near the dam. We stumbled upon the beach after walking a 1/2 mile or so from where we parked the car. After exploring the beach and confirming that there was parking there, we quickly turned around, got the car, and drove to the beach. The water was fantastic, and there was even a deep section with an anchored raft that we could dive off of. Kate ran into an old friend and spent quite a while talking to her, while I swam around aimlessly. It was nice because the designated swimming area wasn't too crowded. Before leaving, Kate and I made several trips to the floating raft to dive off.

After showering up and drying off we had dinner and spent a couple of hours with Kate's friends. They are very nice people. Both of them are volunteer fire fighters which is how they met, and they are heavily involved in various types of community service. Their demanding hobbies provided us with many interesting stories to hear over some pasta and drinks. We spent an hour or more after dinner together while Chris purchased some arts and crafts supplies at a nearby fabric store. After we went on our separate ways, Kate and I walked around Glens Falls for a bit, taking in the picturesque mill town in the foot hills of the Adirondacks. Glens Falls was essentially Kate's home city growing up, the busiest area close to her home town of Lake Luzerne. Kate lived there herself for a while after high school. The walk that she and I embarked upon was one that Kate used to frequently take when living there.

Sunday morning we had a nice brunch near Schenectady with Kate's Mom and Aunt. Afterward we began our journey back to Boston. On the way home, we stopped in Stockbridge for a while. We initially were going to go hiking, but after a little difficulty finding the trail we intended to take, we instead walked around Stockbridge center. It is a picturesque town in the middle of the Berkshires. The Main street is lined with galleries, old colonial and Victorian homes, a couple old inns, some bed & breakfast establishments, and many dining options. With the plentiful amount of activities in the area, it would be a great weekend get away for the future. We decided to check out the Norman Rockwell museum just outside of the town center. It was a great experience that gave me a new appreciation for this artist who I had admittedly dismissed simplistically as an illustrator, when he was so much more. His ability to capture the emotions of the people he painted is unmatched. His art showed an amazing understanding of humanity. He found beauty in his subjects causing his audience to look inward at themselves in relation to the depictions on the canvas.

On Monday Kate and I at long last had a beach day on the Cape, and we couldn't have asked for a better one. We went to Craigville Beach near Hyannis. The water temperature was spectacular, and the swells were gentle and inviting. We probably spent over an hour swimming before breaking for a while to catch some rays, and then getting lunch. Afterward we drove to Hyannis and walked around the town. We had some ice cream at Katie's home made Ice cream. Kate had "Cape Cod Mud" which I believe was a coffee based ice cream with various chocolate goodies within it. I quenched my craving with a chocolate shake. After checking out a couple nearby beaches, we decided to head back to Craigville beach and did some more swimming to close out our day.

As I drove home and the sun set behind the Cape's twisted pine trees, I felt truly relaxed. Kate and I had a pizza from "Pino's" in Brighton which we ate at her apartment, and then sadly, another great summer weekend was complete, and will have to live on in our memories.